Your imagination is your competitive advantage

We’ve all seen the headlines: AI is radically changing how we all show up to work. And whether or not we’ll have a job to show up to at all.

And I’ll be honest, as a career and work-focused creator, it can be tough to find the bright spot among all this disruption and change.

But I recently had the opportunity to attend Adobe MAX in Los Angeles in partnership with Adobe Express, where they shared with us everything coming to their platforms, and how they’re using AI to enhance, not replace, creativity, and it’s convinced me that more than ever, applied creativity is the number one skill you need to be building in order to find success in this new era of work.

Let’s talk about it.

The conference began with some of their executives taking the stage to share their vision and some incredibly interesting stats. Companies today have an immense demand for content, and most (77%) of creative and marketing teams are hiring. That’s a very different picture than the doom and gloom you read about in the news, and it’s a clear signal that companies are recognizing that you can’t automate creativity.

We then got into the announcements and demos, and I was blown away by what I saw. Every Adobe product is getting a major upgrade, but specifically to Adobe Express, they’re building an entirely new AI Assistant (beta) experience, which means you’ll be able to access their immense library of templates and design tools by prompting.

With AI Assistant (beta) you can truly prompt anything and edit everything, and you’ll always have the option for more precise, manual edits as well. Unlike other content creation tools, you can make updates while keeping your layers. I was one of the first to try this out, and it’s definitely going to make creating my content and event materials so much easier. There is so much more to come with this feature, but it’s already super powerful for quick ideas and refining your designs. If you’re using Adobe Express, I highly recommend giving it a try yourself!

The day two keynotes were especially inspiring, as some of the biggest creators in the world took to the stage to show us how they’ve used Adobe tools to create content, and more importantly, impact. Each of them expressed the fact that while tools are important, nothing is a true replacement for the genuine heart and passion of a skilled creative. In the words of Brandon Baum:

On the flight home, I couldn’t help but think about how everything I saw this week only confirmed what I’ve been thinking about as the evolution of work in the age of AI.

In a world where many of the technical aspects of work are abstracted away, what we’re left with is the demand for professionals who can leverage those tools with their own creative instinct to create something that would be impossible to imagine otherwise. It’s not about choosing between manual editing or AI-assisted prompt editing - you can use both without trade-offs or limits.

We need people who can apply their creativity in new and exciting ways. We need creative technologists. And if you’re interested at all in building that skillset, you should take a serious look at what Adobe’s cooking up with their AI Assistant (beta).

Get a 30-day free trial of Adobe Express Premium here.

Sponsored by Adobe Express, the Create Anything app by Adobe

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This is First Things First. I created this newsletter as the reminder I needed to reflect on how far I’ve come, as well as prepare for the journey ahead.

This is where I’ll share with you my deeper thoughts on the topics I explore in my videos, and where I’ll share a few personal updates that aren’t always right for my main channels.

This is a special place, and I’m so glad you’re here.

Colin

If you’re a long-time subscriber (thank you!), you’re probably noticing that this looks a little different than my prior emails. I did some reflecting on the type of newsletter I wanted this to be, and the type of platform that would best suit those needs. And given where I ended up, Substack seemed like the best fit. Let me know what you think!